General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Time For The Generals To Do Their Job And Have The Military Step In..... [View all]First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...and was only asking a hypothetical question. If--again--there are alternatives, then I'd be delighted. But some people here talk of the "Constitution" as if it's absolute, and it clearly isn't. To coin a phrase--it isn't a suicide pact. If a President went mad and tried to start a nuclear war on his own initiative, which is clearly within his "constitutional" prerogatives, I hope someone somewhere along the chain of command would say "no". If this is a "coup", then so be it. Schlesinger did this more-or-less with Nixon in the last days of Watergate, and God bless him. He bent the letter of the Constitution, to avoid risking losing everything. I hope someone would have the courage to do this again, if Trump went crazy and tried to start a nuclear war. Is there anyone here at DU who thinks this is an impossible scenario...? (See Ron Rosenbaum's 2011 book on nuclear command and control for a further discussion of these issues--I forget the title, but it's one of the scariest books I've ever read. There is *nothing*, formally, that can prevent an insane President from pushing the Button.)